RSS and Tracking Change
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) has had a profound effect on my life in a fairly short period of time (about 1 year), and has probably impacted many more people in a similar way. RSS makes tracking blogs, news stories, e-mail, and podcasts easy and automated. And it's really a wonder that nobody thought it sooner.
RSS falls into the "meta-data" category - it is data about data. The information an RSS document contains varies, but there are a few constants:
a list of records, each containing:
- a date/time
- a title or subject
- a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) where the entry can be accessed via the Internet
Most people read RSS entries chronologically. They know the date/time when they last read the RSS "feed", and want to know if any new entries have been added since then. This is a very easy request to fulfill. Instead of constantly polling your inbox or your friends blogs, you can use an RSS reader to check the status of them all in a single glance.
Software can automate this task, and poll the feed at any interval you want. This isn't as easily done with traditional information sources. Consider a department store: there is a ton of meta-data sitting idle that could be tapped in ultra-valuable ways. Imagine an RSS feed for the newest additions in your favorite clothing department, or a listing of the most recent sales promotions, or a listing of the most recent transactions for the store manager. All of this information is available but is not organized and processed in a unified way. I think that RSS and similar technologies have the ability to bring all of that information to those interested in a simple, convenient medium.